Cowboys & NFC East: The 'Mr. Irrelevant' Division

Dallas Cowboys & NFC East: The 'Mr. Irrelevant' Division - Where Everybody Is Alive

FRISCO - Years ago, as a sort of self-parody, the NFL anointed the very last guy chosen in its NFL Draft with the title "Mr. Irrelevant.'' In today's NFL, there is an entire division of "Mr. Irrelevants.''

They are collectively known as "the NFC East.''

“I have not,'' Giants coach Joe Judge said Sunday when asked if he's discussed the standings with his team. "And I’ll tell everyone right now, it’s irrelevant.''

"Irrelevant'' is indeed the word for anyone who does examine and discuss the standings in the NFC Least.

The Giants - who were 300-to-1 to win the division just a couple of weeks ago - registered a 27-17 win over the Eagles on Sunday. That dumps Philadelphia to 3-5-1 ... good for first place.

The Giants, who previously were only capable of beating Washington, have improved to 3-7.

Washington lost 30-27 on a last-second field goal at Detroit (in part due to a foolish Chase Young penalty) and dropped to 2-7.

READ MORE: Lions 30 Washington 27: A 'Have-Not' Loss

And amazingly, the Dallas Cowboys experienced relative success by not playing at all, remaining at 2-7 as well.

By virtue of Washington's recent 25-3 win over Dallas, the Cowboys are mired in last place in the NFC Least. But outside of Philadelphia boasting that they got under Amari Cooper's skin in their win over Dallas, nobody in this division has anything to boast about.

And, in the minds of the combatants, nobody has any reason to give up, either. ... even though the Tankathon awaits ...

READ MORE: Dallas Jumps To No. 3 Pick In NFL Draft

“I think we’re in this to still fight (in the NFC East),” Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said. "We just have to stay the course here.”

And from Judge: “The only thing that matters is we keep improving as a team and go 1-0 every week. The overall standings, we’re not going to look at those, we’re not going to focus on those; that’s not an emphasis in our organization. We’ve got to keep improving as a team to give ourselves a chance to be the best program we can be.”

Sensible. But one of these NFC East teams is going to be "the best program it can be'' - and is going to be "the best'' in the Least - while still being lousy.